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StarCraft: Frontline: Fear the Reaper
StarCraft: Frontline: Fear the Reaper is a story in the four-part StarCraft: Frontline series. It is a story of revenge with themes of change, the power of innocence and prejudice.2009-09-18, StaffPick, Staff Pick: StarCraft: Frontline. Tokyopop, accessed on 2009-09-20 It mostly takes place in 2503.April 6, 2010. "Timeline". StarCraft II: Heaven's Devils. Simon & Schuster (Pocket Star). pp. 311 - 323. ISBN 978-1416-55084-6. Description In David Gerrold's (writer of Star Trek's "The Trouble with Tribbles") first foray into the StarCraft universe, a reformed reaper's dark past threatens to raze his life into the ground—unless the intervention of a protoss dark templar proves that the scythe is mightier than the gauss pistol. Synopsis A quartet of reapers—Nero, Kern, Pfaff and Rock—raided a military base's science facility. They planned to steal hub drives and sell them to the Kimeran Pirates. Colonel Nero's method of killing everyone encountered disturbed Kern; the colonel threatened to kill Kern if he voiced further dissent. Kern objected again when Nero killed the guards and was shot and wounded by the colonel. Plaff and Rock convinced Nero not to kill Kern. Nero contacted the Dominion military and blamed pirates for the brutal attack on the facility. While recovering at a New Sydney hospital, Kern convinced Pfaff and Rock to turn Nero in by claiming the colonel had lied to them about the mission. Years later, Kern settled on the small colony world of Roxara with his wife Cindy and small daughter Tiffy. Much of the former-reaper's left leg was replaced with a poorly-functioning prosthetic. Meanwhile, Nero's execution date arrived. Nero attacked his guards, stole their weapons, and used the Gannemuck Prison's communication system to outwit the rest. He stole more weapons and planted a remote-controlled explosive on the prison's reactor. Once safely away in a ship he detonated the explosive and destroyed the prison. Nero quickly located and killed Rock, then moved onto Pfaff. Pfaff tried to trade Kern's location for his life; Nero accepted the information but still killed him. Lassatar, a dark templar, arrived on Roxara ahead of Nero. The protoss was searching for a xel'naga artifact. He had a poor opinion of humanity whom he regarded as violent. Lassatar encountered Tiffy. The girl mistook the dark templar for an angel, while the dark templar was surprised by Tiffy's innocent mind. Together they located the artifact. Kern and Cindy became concerned by their daughter's prolonged absence. They decided to go look for Tiffy just as Nero arrived. The escaped criminal intended to murder Kern's family in front of him. Lassatar intervened and engaged Nero; the dark templar managed to severely wound the reaper. Nero taunted Kern that he couldn't finish him off, but Kern did just so. Kern then attacked Lassatar, whom he thought was there to attack his family. Lassatar read his opponent's mind, and discovered Kern had transformed himself from a violent person like Nero into a family man. Lassatar left them in peace... much to Tiffy's disappointment.Gerrold, David (w), Ruben de Vela (p), Dan Borgonos (i). "Fear the Reaper." In StarCraft: Frontline: Volume 4 (paperback binding), pp. 28-71. Tokyopop, October 1, 2009. ISBN 978-1427-81698-6. Characters Reapers *Kern *Nero *Pfaff *Rock Kel-Morian Combine *Pard (SCV operator) Civilians *Cindy *Tiffy Dark Templar *Lassatar Development Fear the Reaper was conceived by Micky Neilson. He thought that fans would like to see a duel between a reaper and Dark Templar. To further complicate things, despite reapers being "tough bastards," the reaper in the story would have a daughter. James Waugh wrote the outline, got feedback from Neilson and the story was pitched to Gerrold, who accepted.2011-06-22, Q&A With Blizzard's Manga Team. Cryptazoic, accessed on 2011-07-13 Trivia *One of the Dominion marines in the science facility the reapers attack has written on the front of his armor "I'm in ur base." This is a reference to a common meme in real time strategy games (including StarCraft), "im in ur base killin ur doods." *The comic was given an indirect sequel in the short story "In the Dark," continued the story of Lassatar and the psionic lens he recovered. References Category:StarCraft: Frontline stories